1. Field of the Invention
The present Patent of Invention refers to a prefabricated panel especially provided for its use in building and construction, and to a system for the coupling and assembly of said prefabricated panels.
This system is particularly suitable for the assembly of prefabricated panels in construction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In traditional construction, the wall is built using easily manipulable prismatic elements (brick, light concrete blocks, etc.) which are either left visible when specially manufactured for this purpose, or else faced with some material or other in order to produce a decorative, impermeable or other kind of desired finish.
Mentioned prismatic elements contain gaps in their interior with the purpose of reducing their weight, improving the adhesive power of the mortar and permitting the passage of installations. Once the wall is built, normally the levels have to be made in which the installations will be embedded and subsequently covered before the surface finish is applied.
The drawback to this traditional construction system lies in the fact that the surface finish must be applied on site, normally with wet means and using some form of relatively artisan method.
Among the most present-day industrialised systems we find:
those which themselves constitute the partition, with the whole of their bulk filled in for example gypsum plaster plates or slabs in roofs and walls. PA1 those of homogeneous bulk containing unidirectional hollows. PA1 those assembled on site on the basis of a compound system of linear structural elements (joint assemblies or frameworks) and flat panelling elements.
The drawback of the first and second industrialised systems is that the facing of the panels must be the same on both sides; on the other hand, in those cases where both sides are different, we have a very limited technological range at our disposal, since two different technologies will have to be applied together to each side of the panel. Furthermore, the change of a panel or part of a panel is made to the detriment of both sides, that is, the partition function is lost during the process.
On the other hand, the fact that the panels consist of a solid bulk or contain unidirectional hollows has a drawback in that the passage of installations is either hindered or must be carried out in established directions, generally after a hollow has been opened in the panel through which to pass the installation.
In systems of framework and plate, one of the drawbacks is that the dimensions of the panels determine the structural arrangement of the framework, and though both may be more or less flexible in their initial layout, once established they remain fixed and any modification at a given point must take these dimensions into account, which leads to drawbacks when the plates are subsequently adjusted. Whatever the case, the framework cannot be so impenetrable so as not to permit small modulations except at considerable extra cost, which would be detrimental to the objective (of reducing execution costs).
Moreover, once the directionality of the panels has been determined (horizontal, vertical or sloping), the ensuing layout cannot easily be modified or interchanged.
As regards the installations, while there are no problems involved in their passage between panels, there may be problems when they are made to pass through the framework elements.
A further drawback is that the modification or substitution of the panel either requires specialised labour or else produces a traumatic effect on the system, normally impeding its reutilisation or recycling.
In the systems described above, the joining elements are usually independent of the system itself (mortar, screws, special anchoring pieces, etc.), which means that while they might be ideal for a specific type of material constituting the panel or the structure, the same joining element or system may not be suitable for another panel in a different material. Thus a certain degree of incompatibility ensues.